Thursday, June 10, 2010

ArcelorMittal (NYSE:MT) Starts Up West African Iron Ore Mines Again

After closing down operations at two iron ore projects in West Africa, ArcelorMittal (NYSE:MT) has now restarted them again.

Located at Faleme in Senegal and Mount Nimba in Liberia, the two iron ore mines had operations suspended in 2009 in response to iron ore prices falling in response to decreasing demand.

Production for the Mount Nimbi project in Liberia is scheduled to resume sometime in the middle of 2011. No specifics on reopening Faleme were given by the company, although original estimates were to have it producing by 2011.

After delaying the projects in 2009, the company is cautiously moving forward in what appears to be a mild rebound in demand, although recent events in Europe with their sovereign debt crisis and slowdown in China, along with the U.S. economy going nowhere, has generated concerns in all companies supplying raw materials as whether or not demand in the near- and mid-term is going to grow.